Lady Mustangs unable to catch Western Brown in non-conference loss

MT. ORAB — Playing on the road Wednesday night, the Lynchburg-Clay Lady Mustangs just couldn’t get over the hump so to speak against the Western Brown Lady Broncos, falling by just two points at 65-63. 

“The overall picture of this game is we just fought the whole entire time, through mistakes and good bad and ugly on our part, on their part,” Lynchburg-Clay head coach Whitney Lewis said after the game. “We just kept fighting and kept going, and I’m proud of my kids for this. Western Brown is a really good basketball team, and we put in a valiant effort and almost came up on top.”

The Lady Mustangs (9-4) held the lead just once in the game, that coming in the first quarter following two free throws by senior Addison West with 1:52 on the clock. LCHS held the lead for 17 seconds until Western Brown ended the frame with five straight points for an 18-13 lead after the first frame.

That first quarter for LCHS included five points from Macy Etienne, who made a 3-pointer and a two-point basket, plus the first frame for the Lady Mustangs saw Jade Massey collect four points on two baskets, and Madison McMullen also scored two points in the frame. 

Then came the second frame where Western Brown (11-4) outscored LCHS, 16-12, as the two teams exchanged baskets point-for-point from the 6:30 mark until the final seconds ticked off the clock, with the Lady Broncos’ lead being either seven or nine points on nine occasions in that time frame. 

Western opened the second with a 3-pointer from Olivia Fischer, only to see those points answered with two free throws and a layup, both by West, getting LCHS back to within four points of the WBHS lead with 7:07 left in the second. 

From there, Western Brown hit a 3-pointer off a shot by Hadley Jones, and with 6:09 on the clock it was Western Brown’s Cassidy Armstrong sinking a basket for two points and a nine-point lead at 26-17. 

For the remainder of the quarter, the Lady Mustangs had points from West and Massey, as each player scored four points off their baskets, leaving LCHS trailing by seven points at halftime. 

LCHS finished the first half with 12 turnovers. 

“We try to keep 12 turnovers for the game as a goal, and when you play a team like Western Brown, you’ve got to make sure that you take advantage of each and every possession,” Lewis said. “We just didn't do that tonight.”

Western Brown extended their lead to as many as 12 points on two occasions in the third frame both times off 3-pointers which were made by Fischer and Jones, as Jones made the WBHS lead 42-30 with 4:25 left in the quarter. 

LCHS came back and showed they weren’t folding, scoring the next six points from the 4:15 mark to the 2:29 mark off a layup by Massey, a jumper from Allie Waits and a basket with an underhand shot by West with 2:29 left for a six-point deficit at 42-36. 

The Lady Broncos answered with a 3-pointer, only to have Etienne knock down a 3-pointer with 2:07 left in the third, getting LCHS back to within six points of tying the score. 

After the Lady Broncos had two points scored by Madilyn Ruby, Massey sank a 3-pointer for the Lady Mustangs, and from there, later in the frame LCHS got to within three points of tying the score with two free throws made by Massey and a layup from West with 28 seconds on the third-quarter clock, as the third frame ended with LCHS having 46 points compared to Western Brown with 49 points. 

“We hit some big shots at big key moments to keep us in the game and there at the end almost pulled it out,” Lewis said. “I think we just played really hard tonight and never quit. I think we were down double digits at some point. We didn't fold and get down on ourselves. We fought back, and that's a good place to be this time of year, to keep the battle going.”

In the fourth frame LCHS trailed by as many as 11 points with 6:27 on the clock following a 3-pointer by Fischer of WBHS, and later by 10 points with 3:23 left in the game for a 60-50 deficit. 

LCHS wasn’t finished, though, scoring 10 of the next 11 points in the game, starting with a 3-pointer by Etienne, and later Waits made two free throws for a 60-55 score. LCHS continued with two free throws made by Massey, and after a free throw made by Fischer, it was a 3-pointer by Waits with 39.9 left in regulation that had the Lady Mustangs trailing by one point at 61-60. 

“Coming off the bench, Allie Waits came out and played really well,” Lewis said. “She came out and hit a 3-pointer for us. It was a big turnaround, gave us some good minutes there in the first half and the second half, so I thought she did really well. 

“Jade led all scorers, but she does so many other things, too. I think she had three steals in a row at one point in time there in that fourth quarter that just, again, keeps us in the game and keeps us competitive.”

Western Brown scored the next four points in the game, and with 3.2 on the clock Etienne connected with her fourth 3-pointer of the game for the final 65-62 score. 

Massey led LCHS with 20 points, totaling five two-point baskets, two 3-pointers and she was 4-of-4 from the free-throw line. 

West was next with 18 points by making six two-point buckets, and she was 6-of-6 from the free-throw line. 

Also in double figure scoring was Etienne with 14 points, making the aforementioned four 3-pointers and one two-point field goal. 

Other final scoring numbers included Waits with seven points, which came off one two-point basket, one 3-pointer and she went 2-of-2 from the free-throw line. McMullen ended the game with four points off two baskets. 

As a team, the Lady Mustangs totaled 15 two-point baskets, seven 3-pointers and LCHS was a perfect 12-of-12 from the free-throw line. 

Fischer and Ruby each led WBHS with 16 points, followed by Jones with 14 points and Alyssa Campbell with 10 points. WBHS also had seven points from Armstrong and two points from Peyton Butler. 

Team totals for WBHS included 11 two-point baskets, 11 3-pointers, and they were 10-of-16 from the free-throw line. 

The loss moves LCHS to 9-4 overall (7-1 in SHAC), and their next game will be on Thursday, Jan. 18 at Ripley in Southern Hills Athletic Conference action. 

WBHS moves to 11-4 overall this season. 

BOX SCORE 
LCHS    13 12 21 17 — 63
WBHS    18 14 17 16 — 65

WESTERN BROWN (65) — H.Jones 0 (4) 2-4 14, A.Campbell 2 (2) 0-0 10, C.Armstrong 3 (0) 1-2 7, P.Butler 1 (0) 0-0 2, M.Ruby 5 (0) 6-8 16, O.Fischer 0 (5) 1-2 16. TOTALS: 11 (11) 10-16 65. 

LYNCHBURG-CLAY (63) — M.Etienne 1 (4) 0-0 14, A.Waits 1 (1) 2-2 7, A.West 6 (0) 6-6 18, J.Massey 5 (2) 4-4 20, M.McMullen 2 (0) 0-0 4. TOTALS: 15 (7) 12-12 63.